


Only Half The Truth

by Call_It_Alba



Series: Daddy McG [1]
Category: The Brave (TV 2017)
Genre: Gen, M/M, school shooting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-02
Updated: 2018-02-02
Packaged: 2019-03-12 16:10:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,701
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13550898
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Call_It_Alba/pseuds/Call_It_Alba
Summary: A school shooting back home leads to the team finding out about McG's teenage daughter, Kenny-Jo.No on screen slash.





	Only Half The Truth

**Author's Note:**

> I don't know if this is any good. This is the first piece I've written for this fandom. I don't know why I ship McG with Dalton but I do. Let me know what you think and whether I should continue it or not.

Incirlik Air Base, Adana, Turkey (GMT+3), 2017

(1815 hours)

It was quiet at Incirlik Air Base where Adam ‘Top’ Dalton’s ground force team was based out of, or at least it was for the aforementioned team, until an American newsclip and a long distance skype call brought it all to a sudden halt. Amir had been playing around with the television that was kept inside the team’s quarters when a channel playing an American reality show brought up a Breaking News announcement of a small high school in Billings, Montana being the latest location of a school shooting. 

It was at that exact moment that the laptop sat on the table began to make pinging noises indicating that there was a new video call coming through. Dalton happened to be closest to it, and upon seeing the name pressed accept before turning to his combat medic, Sergeant Joseph J. ‘McG’ McGuire. “McG, it’s Kenny-Jo,” Dalton told the slightly younger man as he kept one eye on the image on the screen. 

He knew that his team would ask questions that McG didn’t want them to but it was time that they knew and respected the combat medic for who he really was. McG was a father who did everything possible to ensure that his daughter was taken care of to the best of his ability. 

‘Daddy.’ the cry was hushed but enough for Dalton and McG who had leapt up to his feet and was making his way towards the laptop to hear. It was a sound that McG had not heard in a very long time. The last time he had heard Kenny-Jo that scared had been when he and Dalton had been classified as Missing In Action four years earlier. ‘Daddy?’ her voice had gotten quieter so that it was just above a whisper and in the background you could hear the sound of gunshots. 

Billings, Montana (GMT-7), United States of America, 2017

Two hours and thirty minutes earlier (0545 hours)

Despite the early start, both Lindy and Kenny-Jo McGuire were wide awake as they drove into Billings, in order to drop Kenny-Jo off in time for her swimming and soccer training, and to ensure that Lindy made it to the hospital in time for her shift, as was the norm when Joseph was deployed. It used to be the case that Kenny-Jo stayed with her mother when her father was deployed, but it soon became habit that her mother’s other children to bully her and then her mother would kick her out for doing something that she hadn’t even know had happened. Now, she spent most of her time staying with her grandmother, which she didn’t mind even if it meant that she travelled an hour to school and then had to go to the hospital for several hours after school. 

“Are you ready for your swim meet on saturday?” Linda ‘Lindy’ McGuire asked her granddaughter as she pulled her son’s pickup to a halt in front of the small high school that Kenny-Jo attended. The nurse knew that the fourteen year old only competed in the amount of sports that she did so as to distract herself from the fact that her dad was deployed overseas and it made her feel close to him in a way. 

“Yeah, I guess.” the youngster responded as she grabbed her backpack and her sports bag ready to get out the pickup and make her way into the school. “I just wish dad could be here to see me compete this time,” she explained before she leaned over and gave her grandmother a quick hug before jumping out of the pickup. Just before she could shut the door her grandmother spoke. 

“Remember that I’m working until seven so you’re to come to the hospital after practice. And I love you, Kenny-Jo,” Lindy reminded her granddaughter who nodded and held up the ASL sign for ‘I love you’ before she turned and sprinted up to the main doors of the high school which she attended. It was only once she had seen her granddaughter enter the building that Lindy put the vehicle in gear and pulled away. 

Incirlik Air Base, Adana, Turkey (GMT+3), 2017

(1817 hours)

‘Daddy?’ Kenny-Jo’s cry was even quieter than the first one, and for one of the first times in his life, McG regretted the fact that he was over six thousand miles away from his daughter, his home, his family. He had always promised to ensure that nothing bad would come to her, but that was the exact promise he had broken.

“Goose, you got your earphones in?” McG eventually heard Dalton ask Kenny-Jo in a whisper. It had been years since he had last heard Dalton refer to Kenny-Jo as Goose, but he was glad to know that it would at least reassure his daughter. 

“You’ve got to put them in so you can hear us without risking anyone overhearing, Junior,” McG added in his own whisper. Dalton’s question had been enough to shock him out of his stupor. If he couldn’t be there to protect his daughter in person then he’d just have to do everything he could to advise her over the phone. 

‘They’re in, daddy,’ Kenny-Jo replied, the tears that were streaming down her face was the first thing McG had to deal with. ‘I did what Adam told me to. I remembered, daddy,’ she added on. 

Somehow McG had gotten caught up in what he could see on the screen in front of him. He couldn’t help but focus on his daughter; it didn’t matter what his reasons for keeping Kenny-Jo a secret from his unit were. All he cared about in that moment was ensuring that his daughter was there waiting when he got home from his deployment. 

“Baby,” he hadn’t called his daughter that since he came back from being M.I.A but when he saw the tears coursed down her face he was reminded that no matter how mature she acted or how old she got, she would always be his baby. “I need you tell me how safe you are. Can anyone get in?” He was terrified which made him wonder if his daughter was just as scared. Despite the fact that she was crying, he was proud of her for staying so calm. 

McG waited for Kenny-Jo to respond before he asked if she was injured. He had hoped for her to answer ‘no’ but when has it ever gone well for the McGuire’s; the answer was certainly not then. “I need to see,” he told her, going into medic mode, just like he did everytime Dalton was hurt. 

Incirlik Air Base, Adana, Turkey, 2017

(1819 hours)

No one on the team with the exception of Dalton knew that McG had a daughter. So whilst Preach, Amir and Jaz couldn’t hear what was being said to McG, they were concerned about him because they had never seen him like that. 

Under normal circumstances McG was the calm and rational one when things went to shit. Apart from Preach, they all knew that he was the one who stopped Dalton from doing his kamikaze stupidity; or minimised the stupidity of it at least. But now it appeared as though Dalton was trying to ensure that McG stayed calm. 

“What do you think is going on?” Amir asked as he watched the medic grip the chair in front of the laptop. He had been a member of the team for a much shorter time than anyone else, so he figured that they either knew what was up with McG or the medic was a complete mystery. His idea of what was going on was not made any clearer when he heard McG call the person on the screen ‘baby’. 

Billings, Montana, United States of America, 2017

Two hours earlier (0615 hours)

“McGuire!” Kenny-Jo stopped her lap of the running track when she heard her coach shout on her. “Poolside in ten!” Coach “Andi” Anderson yelled to the fourteen year old who she frequently found doing more training than the varsity team members. 

Kenny-Jo took a quick breath before she ran the rest of the way round the track. Due to the fact that she did this as routine three days a week she knew that it took two minutes twenty six seconds to run from the track gate to the gym door, if it was looked it would take an additional three minutes thirty four seconds to run to the main door and down to the gym, which she calculated left her four minutes to get to the track gate and be changed on the poolside. She was starting to understand why Adam kept saying she needed to plan for delays; everything was always too close with timing. 

Despite the fact that Adam most likely was right, Kenny-Jo knew that if she didn’t think it all down to the very last second it would give her time to worry about what could happen to her dad, and Adam, in the worst case scenario. That was why she did so many sports and helped out reading to the kids at the hospital.

Billings, Montana, United States of America, 2017

One hour and forty eight minutes earlier (0627 hours)

“Sorry, Coach Andi,” Kenny-Jo blurted out before she realised that no one else was poolside. “Where is everyone else?” the youngster asked having expected to be glared at by the others on the swim team. 

“On the running track warming up. I needed a word with you, Kenny-Jo,” Coach Andi informed her, which caused the young girl to look at her in fear as she tried to work out if she had done anything wrong. “I’m worried about you, kid, I’m worried you’re going to burn yourself out. You swim five times a week, run track practise three times a week, do soccer twice a week and wrestle twice a week. And that’s just organised practises, on days we do swim practise in the morning Claire says you’re already out running track when she arrives at six! What are you hiding from?” the coach asked her star athlete. She had watched the girl get more intense with the amount of training she did at school over the last term until then and she was increasingly concerned about it. 

“What do you want me to do?” If Kenny-Jo was to be honest then she was terrified of what Coach Andi was going to ask. She was terrified that she would have to admit that her greatest fear was the death of her dad. 

“I’ve spoken to the rest of your coaches and Coaches Miller and Gomez, they’ve suggested you take a break from soccer and wrestling. We just don’t want you to burnout,” Coach Andi told the young girl as she sat down on the poolside bleachers.“If you need to do more than the organised practises for swim team and track, you come to me or Claire, you tell us why and we’ll sort something for you,” Coach Andi told her as tears began to fall from the fourteen year old’s eyes. 

“But then I have to stop and think. I don’t want to think,” Kenny-Jo sobbed as her coach wrapped her arm around her shoulders. “If I get to think then I worry about my dad,” she admitted before she took a deep breath and wiped away her tears. She was the youngest on the team and refused to show weakness in front of the other members of the team. 

“Go clean up. Five minutes,” Coach Andi ordered her when she heard the outdoor entry open up. 

Incirlik Air Base, Adana, Turkey, 2017

(1824 hours)

“Shit!” McG blurted out when he saw the blood from the bullet wound to her thigh. “Right, baby, I need you to apply a lot of pressure to the wound. Tie your scarf around your leg to keep the pressure on. Are you hurt anywhere else, baby?” he asked as he watched his daughter put her phone down and pick up her scar. Despite how scared he was about all the consequences that could occur from the gunshot, he was proud of how brave his daughter was being. 

‘I hurt my shoulder as well,’ his little girl admitted before she picked up her phone and turned it towards her shoulder. ‘I’m sorry I ruined your scarf, Adam,’ Kenny-Jo apologised to Dalton, whilst McG studied the way that her shoulder and arm was sitting. 

“It is okay, Goose,” Dalton assured the young girl who over the course of time he’d known her had wormed her way into his heart. “I’d rather you were okay, Goose,” he promised her as he heard Jaz, Preach and Amir come over to where he and McG were stood. 

“I can’t fix your shoulder for you but…” McG was cut off when gunshots were heard right outside the cupboard in which Kenny-Jo was hiding followed by the video going black. “Kenny-Jo! Go and answer, Kenny-Jo!” he pleaded as Dalton placed his hand on McG’s shoulder. 

Dalton knew that no matter what was said his team medic would continue to panic and worry until he spoke to his daughter. That was why he pressed the button to skype call the fourteen year old back, and he could only hope that Kenny-Jo was able to answer. But unfortunately Dalton felt his heart drop to his stomach when he saw the skype call fail. 

“She’s probably just on her way out of the school. You know that Kenny-Jo is tough, she’ll be okay. Go and call your mum if you want to know what happened,” Dalton assured McG as he watched Jaz settle her arm on the medics shoulder. “If she phones back we’ll get you,” he promised as he withdrew his hand from the younger mans shoulder. He could tell by the looks on the faces of the other three members of his team that McG had a lot of explaining to do. 

Billings, Montana, United States of America, 2017

One hour earlier (0715 hours)

Kenny-Jo’s classroom was the last room that Coach Andi came to as she walked the members of the swim team to class due to practice running late. This was the part that the fourteen year old hated the most; the majority of the competitive teams did not allow freshmen on the team and that meant explaining that she had been at practice and ‘no she wasn’t lying’. It didn’t help that her teacher was against sports and high school sport teams. 

“Miss McGuire, you are late!” Mr White bellowed as she went to sit down at her seat one row back from the door where Coach Andi was still standing. “What is your excuse this time?” he spat out at her. 

“Sorry, sir, practice ran late,” Kenny-Jo apologised as she pulled her history folder and book out of her bag. All she wanted to do was finish her history homework before she had class period one. “I will try and not let it happen,” Kenny-Jo promised as Coach Andi put her head through the door and nodded to the teacher. The fourteen year old wanted nothing more than to tell the teacher exactly what she thought of him; she had never gotten over him calling soldiers ‘murderers’! 

“It had better not, Miss McGuire!” the young girl ignored her teacher in order to finish her homework as she slipped her earphone in and turn ehr music on quietly. However, of course, Mr White had a no electronics rule in his classroom, so Kenny-Jo had to be sneaky about it. 

Incirlik Air Base, Adana, Turkey, 2017

(1842 hours) 

“What is going on, McG?” the question came from Jaz after she had pushed him into one of the chairs at the kitchen table. The young girl that had been on the computer screen had raised quite a few questions in the mind of the only female on the team. She had known McG for a quite a while if you asked her but never once had she heard any reference to the teenager or anyone called Kenny-Jo. 

“The school shooting,” he paused to calm his emotions and to ensure that the rest of the people on the team knew what he was talking about. “My daughter is in there,” he admitted as he began to question what he needed to do next. He never really had to worry about his daughter when he was away, she had never been in a situation where he had to; she wasn’t a troublemaker. 

“What is she like?” Amir asked trying to adjust the image of McG he had held previously. Iin the time that he’d known the medic he had been under the impression that he was just a bachelor and a bit of ‘player’. 

“Smart and athletic. She is the youngest person on the track team, swim as well,” the tone of pride was heard by everyone on the team as McG spoke. “She would rather help than hinder anyone, even the most horrible person in the world,” he added, unaware that Dalton was attempting to skype call Kenny-Jo once again. 

“What is her name?” the question was from Preach this time. The larger man couldn’t believe what he had said to McG about him not being a father and not understanding what it was like to have children. He was surprised that McG hadn’t put him on his ass for that. 

“Kendall Josephine,” McG replied before he was interrupted by Dalton. 

“McG!” it was a voice that Dalton rarely used when the rest of the team were around. “It’s Kenny-Jo.” 

Billings, Montana, United States of America, 2017

Ten minutes earlier (0805 hours)

The teacher, Ms Blue, had just finished collecting in the homework when she asked Kenny-Jo to go to the office so as to collect photocopying. It was a teachers way of telling a student that they had a counselling appointment. As such Kenny-Jo took the two minutes to pack her bag and collect the homework from the front of the classroom, before she left on her way to the small office on the other side of the school. 

As Kenny-Jo made her way down the corridor, one strap of her bag holding it on her shoulder, she put her earphones in. So when the P.A. System was used to notify everyone of an active shooter, she failed to hear it. 

Incirlik Air Base, Adana, Turkey, 2017

(1855 hours) 

“Kenny-Jo! Are you okay, baby?” was the first thing McG asked as he laid eyes on his daughter on the computer screen. He was glad to see that she was now sat in the back of an ambulance because it meant that she was being treated.   
‘I’m okay, daddy. Paramedic Hailey-Grace said they’ll take me to Grandma's hospital so that they don’t run the risk of bumping into Ally. Hailey-Grace wants to hit her,’ Kenny-Jo told him with a joking voice. He was relieved that Hailey-Grace was with his daughter because it meant she would most definitely be okay. 

‘She’s gonna be fine, you schmuck,’ Hailey-Grace added as Kenny-Jo turned the phone to face his former partner from college. ‘I got your kid, Joe,’ It was that promise that allowed McG to sigh with relief. He just nodded his thanks. 

‘I’ll phone you with the details once I’ve got Kenny-Jo to Lindy,’ was all Hailey-Grace said before she hung up on the medic. 

“I told you that she’d be alright. Now you better go and phone Kenny-Jo’s mum,” Dalton told the teams medic. He was glad that McG had finally found out that his daughter was okay and in safe hands. 

Billings, Montana, United States of America, 2017

Present Time (0815 hours)

Kenny-Jo couldn’t believe what had happened. She’d been shot in the leg by Mason Thomson, her eldest sister’s former boyfriend, before she fell and dislocated her shoulder. As soon as Mason had entered a classroom two doors down, she had began to pull herself along the floor until she managed to get into the storage cupboard and had locked the door. 

“Please answer the phone, daddy,” Kenny-Jo plead as she pressed the dial button on skype. She knew that she needed her dad despite the fact he was deployed. 

It was Adam Dalton who answered the skype call but she was relieved to find that he had already shouted on her dad. It meant that she’d be seeing her dad quicker. 

Incirlik Air Base, Adana, Turkey, 2017

Two hours and five minutes later (2106 hours)

McG, Dalton, Amir, Jaz and Preach all sat waiting for Hailey-Grace to phone again, or for someone else to give McG news on Kenny-Jo. Over the course of the previous two hours McG had told Amir, Preach and Jaz all about his daughter and the fact that he was raising her on his own. He was surprised to find that no one was judging him for it. 

Normally by this point everyone would be doing their own thing but they had decided that they would wait for news on Kenny-Jo with McG. They knew that if it was any of them that McG wouldn’t leave them alone. 

However, regardless of the fact that they were waiting for a call, they were surprised when the skype call tone sounded. They were surprised that McG didn’t rush to answer this time. 

They waited until the medic had answered and all except for Dalton left him be. Dalton listened to McG ask Kenny-Jo’s doctor every question imaginable, once he was done, Dalton walked over to the laptop where McG was still talking to Kenny-Jo. 

“Joe, Goose, I’ll get Joe rotated out as soon as possible,” Dalton offered as he settled his hand on McG’s shoulder. However, he did not expect the response he got. 

‘No! Dad is to stay there. You’ll both be home soon!’ Kenny-Jo insisted in the way that made both McG and Dalton smile. She could make them both proud with her toughness. 

“I told Jaz, Preach and Amir about you today,” McG started to tell his daughter about everything as usual.


End file.
